Split.
Read this pathetic litany:
Thursday May 6, 10:57 am Eastern Time
RESEARCH ALERT- MediaOne cut to neutral
NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - Salomon Smith Barney said
Thursday analyst Spencer Grimes cut his rating on MediaOne
Group Inc. to neutral from buy, reflecting the cable company's
planned takeover by AT&T Corp. (T - news).
-- AT&T will pay $56.4 million to buy MediaOne, the No. 3 U.S. cable company. MediaOne shares will be linked at .95 of an AT&T share and $30.85 cash per MediaOne share, Grimes said.
-- Grimes adjusted his target price to $85 from $74, to reflect AT&T's presumed winning bid and the floor price (per MediaOne share) on the transaction.
-- ''We point out that a 10.6 percent arbitrage spread exists, due in large part to the expected time to elapse before completion, which we estimate to be February 2000,'' he said in a brief research note. ''Given the heavy cash component, we expect the spread to narrow to the 6-7 percent range in the near term.''
-- Grimes also said cable company Comcast Corp. (CMCSA - news), a rival suitor for MediaOne, had taken "the smart approach".
-- Comcast agreed to bless the merger in exchange for a swap of some 2 million cable subscribers ''in a clever, tax-efficient way and without diluting shareholders,'' Grimes said.
-- ''While not securing the big prize, Comcast is a more modest but shareholder friendly winner, able to grow the customer base without taking on the headaches of UMG's valuable but complex array of unconsolidated assets,'' he said.
Modest and shareholder friendly. I don't know who is worst, Grimey or Comcast. |
